


black ice and hidden lust

by mikotoh



Series: band AU (name TBD) [3]
Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Accidental Cuddling, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Arguing, Cuddling & Snuggling, Drabble, Gay John Marston, Hotels, Insults, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Mild Language, Morning Cuddles, Morston Week 2020, No Smut, Pillow Fights, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing a Bed, Sleepy Cuddles, Snowed In, Spooning, Teasing, Tsunderes, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25888807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikotoh/pseuds/mikotoh
Summary: John and Arthur are stuck in an awful motel during a snowstorm.Band AU again, for the Morston Week 2020 day five prompt, 'cuddling for warmth'.
Relationships: John Marston/Arthur Morgan, Sean MacGuire/Leonard "Lenny" Summers (implied)
Series: band AU (name TBD) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878640
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24
Collections: Morston Week 2020





	black ice and hidden lust

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: in regards to the main band au work, you can read this as sort of a side story without any particular place in the timeline (except for being after the band takes on dutch as their manager)
> 
> kind of sort of inspired by the tag 'the first time in fanfic history when the characters rent a hotel room and there's actually two beds' on helvels fic here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18094406 which i havent actually read yet but it made me laugh so i think i channeled it... subconsiously when i finally came up with what to do for todays prompt lmao

John hated the cold. He could put up with it if absolutely had to, but he wasn't going to be happy about it.

Which of course meant that, while they were staying at yet another crappy motel for a gig in a small town, him and his band mates were snowed in by an unexpected blizzard.

He sneered as he watched the snow piling up to a height just about as tall as him outside the window, gripping the curtains tightly in both of his fists as he held them apart. Eventually he groaned and tossed them aside, turning around to flop onto his back on the bed.

"Great! This is just great. We're in this shitty small town, in this shitty hotel, for a shitty gig, and now we can't even perform because of the shitty weather! This is perfect!"

In the corner of the room Arthur sat in the one chair the motel supplied and sketched in his journal, only raising an eyebrow at John's tantrum as he stayed focused on his work.

"I'm sure the other guys are fine with it, too! Lenny and Sean will just bang all night long, and Charles and Javier will… do whatever it is they do!"

"Probably practice their parts."

John lifted his head and glared at Arthur when he decided to speak up, before dropping it back down and staring at the ceiling.

"What makes you think those two are together, anyway?"

He flipped over on the bed and propped himself up with his chin in his hands, mindlessly swinging his legs in the air behind him.

"C'mon, you've seen those looks they give each other all the time. At least, I know Sean definitely has a thing for Lenny. I think he said something about it, once, when he was drunk. But I don't quite remember 'cause I was drunk too. And even if they're not already a couple, they will be after we're stuck in this hotel for god knows how long."

Arthur finally looked up from his drawing and met John's line of sight with a smirk.

"Does that mean we'll be together too, once all this is over with?"

"You wish. You're too much of a pretty boy for me."

At the provocation he could see Arthur's face twitch just a bit from anger, and it secretly brought him delight.

"I _told_ you not to call me that."

"You started it."

"So help me God, Marston, I have no problem throwing you out in that snow and letting you drown in it."

"Careful now. Dutch wouldn't like you harming his new _golden_ boy."

As if John really thought that way about himself in the first place.

"Oh, I'm sure I could convince him you deserved it."

The younger man just huffed to himself then as he pressed his face against the bed and let out another groan.

\---

How the hell Arthur was able to sleep with a minimal amount of heat in their shitty room was unknown to John, but he was absolutely freezing in his bed. The motel must have had a blown fuse or something- or maybe they were just that cheap in the first place when it came to heating the establishment.

Whatever it was, it meant that John was left cocooned in a pile of blankets and shivering uncontrollably as he tried to fall asleep. To no avail, of course, because that would mean getting out of this place faster if he got to kill a few hours sleeping. Clearly the universe just wanted to continue torturing him.

And as far as he could tell it didn't bother Arthur too much, considering he heard light, rhythmic breathing coming from him not long after they went to bed. 

It only stopped when the older man got up a couple hours later to go to the bathroom. When he settled back into the sheets, however, the only thing he could focus on as he tried to drift off again was the sound of John shivering loudly in his own bed. 

He would probably kick himself in the morning for what he was about to do, but he could excuse it as him simply being desperate to fall back asleep.

With a sigh, Arthur sat up and pulled the blankets back.

"C'mere."

A moment of silence passed, before John poked his head out from his cocoon and looked over his shoulder.

"What?"

"Come _here._ I can't sleep 'cause you're driving me crazy with all that noise you're making. And two people in a bed is always a lot warmer than just one."

The way he said it was so matter of fact, that for a second there John forgot all about any other implications that could be made from them sharing a bed.

And even when he _did_ remember them, well… Maybe it didn't bother him too much, despite what he'd said earlier about Arthur being too pretty for him.

There was no way he'd admit it, though.

John hesitated but eventually pulled himself up and out of the bundle of blankets, circling around his own bed before gingerly settling down on Arthur's.

The older man grabbed his blankets then and threw them over the two of them, turning to lie down with his back to John afterwards.

"If you're still cold, you can bring your blankets over here. But I'll start kicking them off if I get too hot, got it?"

John just nodded as he curled into himself and the sheets, also with his back to Arthur.

It was kind of an awkward position, to be honest. Having someone that close to you, but not being able to hold them. 

Damn if it didn't get really warm quickly though, Arthur was right about that.

It was such a calm, soothing feeling after he'd been freezing his ass off that John found he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer in no time.

Some part of him already wished this would never end, as cheesy and stupid as that was.

Perhaps that was why, at some point in his sleep, he rolled over and wrapped his arms around Arthur's waist.

It wasn't until the sun was well high in the sky the next day that John's eyes slowly fluttered open- before they went completely wide at the sight of him spooning Arthur.

He was frozen completely in place then, but it had absolutely nothing to do with the temperature.

To make matters worse, Arthur had his own arm resting on top of John's, along with a tight grip on his hand.

There went John's plans of slipping away quietly and leaving Arthur none the wiser about their cuddling; any sudden movement in their current position would most certainly wake him.

He was trapped.

John wasn't sure just how long he'd been staring at the back of Arthur's neck when the other man finally turned over and rubbed at his eyes with his free hand as he yawned. 

His other hand was still holding onto John's, however, and John knew that now he could have pulled it from Arthur's grasp in an attempt to flip back over onto his side, so they could pretend this never happened.

But, for some reason, he didn't do that, even as his head was screaming at him for it. 

Instead he stayed frozen and watched as Arthur slowly opened his eyes. 

And yet all the other man did was smile lazily at John, seemingly unaffected by the intimate position they were in.

"Mornin'."

John blinked a couple times in surprise, before he managed to also croak out a "Mornin'." in response.

Arthur glanced over at the clock on the nightstand with a chuckle.

"You know, usually I'm up a lot earlier than this."

"I'm… well aware."

He lifted his arm up from the top of John's then- but only so he could reach over and gently run the back of his hand along the scars spread across his face.

"Didn't take you for a cuddler."

The touch combined with that remark was more than enough to turn John's face bright red as he jumped up and quickly scooted away from Arthur on the bed.

"Sh-Shut up!"

"Aw, little Johnny Marston. Always trying to be so cynical when really, you're just a big romantic deep down, ain't you?"

At that, his face was met with a pillow.

"Shut. Up! I swear to God, Arthur, if you say _anything_ to the guys about this…"

Arthur just laughed as he grabbed it off of him and threw it back at John.

"Why not? Maybe it'll land you a date with one of them if they knew how sweet-"

He was cut off by John suddenly lunging forward, this time harshly pressing the pillow against Arthur's face as he let out muffled objections.

"I'll kill you, Arthur Morgan!"

Arthur flailed out his arms in random directions before he managed to push John away from him, catching his breath afterward with a frown.

"Jesus, Marston! I was just kidding! You don't gotta suffocate me over a joke!"

John just growled as he chucked the pillow as hard as he could one last time at Arthur, followed by him getting up and stomping to the bathroom with a scowl on his face.

Arthur sighed at the sound of the door slamming shut a second later as he ran a hand through his hair.

"That kid's _really_ got some problems."

**Author's Note:**

> i cant fucking describe poses but this is how they were sleeping: https://femina.wwmindia.com/content/2018/oct/inner1540364386.jpg
> 
> this is by far the brattiest and most talkative ive written john as
> 
> title is from the song a jagged gorgeous winter by the main drag


End file.
